Pizza at work actually does drive productivity, according to studies

Well, that and the promise of more money.

Pizza. Staple food of the office party and often the most simple way for a bad boss to motivate his employees in the complete absence of his communication skills. There are, after all, few things as depressingly rewarding as that lukewarm slice of Pizza Hut BBQ Meat Lovers after a big week at the office.

However, as it turns out, the tried-and-tested trick of incentivising people at the office with the promise of free pie does work. Almost as well as a financial incentive, in fact.

A new study conducted by Dan Ariely in his upcoming book, Payoff: The Hidden Logic That Shapes Our Motivations, tested this theory in an Intel semiconductor factory in Israel, purposely chosen as a place where employees had a tangible output, and would frequently experience boredom and lack of motivation.

Workers got one of those three messages at the start of their workweek, though about a quarter of them got no message and no promise of a bonus, thus serving as Ariely’s control group. One quarter got the promise of a rare compliment from your boss, one promised a fairly small cash bonus, and one promised pizza at the end of the week.

The first day, Pizza proved to be the most effective motivator, and over the course of the week, Pizza was found to be the second best of the 3 incentives. Only the promise of a compliment from the boss worked better, while the cash bonus was actually found to be expensive and worse for motivation than not offering anything at all. On the second day of the workweek, those in the money condition performed 13.2 percent worse than those in the control group.

The study points towards the fact that when it comes to motivating people at work, employees value a sense of appreciation and belonging at the workplace rather than the incentive of getting money and prestige that affect life outside the work place.

Speaking to the Wall Street Journal last year, Wharton professor Adam Grant said, “Extrinsic motivators can stop having much meaning — your raise in pay feels like your just due, your bonus gets spent, your new title doesn’t sound so important once you have it, but the sense that other people appreciate what you do sticks with you.”